Due to the ever-increasing capacity demands on mobile broadband networks by ever-more numerous and capable mobile terminals, most mobile data networks utilize multiple mobile broadband network access gateways in order to distribute the load of mobile broadband usage among such multiple gateways. When a mobile terminal, for example, a smart phone, desires to access a mobile broadband data network, a mobility management entity (MME) system typically will request, using a domain name server/service (DNS) system, information about a plurality of mobile broadband network access gateways. The MME uses the information to select one of the gateways to serve the mobile terminal, for example, to connect the mobile terminal, via a mobile network, to the Internet. It is to be appreciated that the DNS system referred to herein is local to the exemplary mobile network, and is not to be confused with the DNS system utilized by the Internet to translate domain names to IP addresses.
The information provided from the DNS to the MME typically includes weights and priorities assigned to the mobile broadband network access gateways. Based on the received weight and priority information, the MME selects an appropriate gateway for the network access service requested by the mobile terminal. By selecting different gateways for different mobile terminals, according to the weight and priority information, the mobile management entity may achieve a usage load balance among the gateways.
However, under the conventional art, the weights and priorities of the various gateways are pre-determined, and do not reflect an actual temporal load of the gateways. For example, the weight and priority of a gateway are typically assigned fixed values, based on a gateway's characteristics. Accordingly, the gateways with assigned high priorities are often over-utilized, while gateways with assigned low priorities are under-utilized. When a mobility management entity selects a high priority yet over-utilized gateway to a mobile terminal, the mobile terminal will suffer degraded service from the over-utilized gateway.